BOOK XIV. II. 9-III. 12 



siipported by pillars of vine-wood ; and even at the 

 prescnt day we ascend to the roof of the temple of 

 Diana at Kphesus by a staircase made from a single 

 vine, grown it is said at Cyprus, inasmuch as vines 

 grow to an exceptional height in that island. And 

 no other timber lasts for longer ages. 



But I am inclined to beUeve that the things men- CuiUvation 

 tioned were made of the wood of the wild vine. III. J-^, 7Zined 

 Our own vines are kept down by yearly pruning, and ontreesor 

 all their strength is drawn out into shoots, or else 

 thrown downward into layers, and the only beneflt 

 these supply is that of their juice, obtained by means 

 of a variety of methods adapted to the pecuharities 

 of the chmate and the quaUties of the soil. In 

 Campania the vines espouse the poplars, and embrac- 

 ing their brides and chmbing with wanton arms in a 

 series of knots among their branches, rise level with 

 their tops, soaring aloft to such a height that a hired 

 vintager expressly stipulates in his contract for the 

 cost of a funeral and a grave ! In fact they never stop 

 growing ; and I have before now seen entire country 

 houses and mansions encircled by the shoots and 

 chnging tendrils of a single vine. And a thing that 

 was considered in the first degree worthy of record 

 also by Valerianus CorneUus is that a single vine in 

 the colonnades of Livia at Rome protects the open 

 walks with its shady treUises, while at the same time 

 it produces 12 amphorae of juice yearly. 



Elms indeed are everywhere overtopped by vines, 

 and there is a story that Cineas, the ambassador of 

 King Pyrrhus, was surprised at the height to which 

 the vines grew at La Riccia and made an amusing 

 joke about the rather rough flavour of the wine, to 

 the effect that the parent of it thoroughly deserved 



193 



